After battling it out in their respective cities, 24 finalists from across the country came together at Greater Noida this week for the
Bennett University presents
Times Sudoku Championship finale. The participants were divided into two categories – experienced and inexperienced – and two winners were selected from each category. While Kishore Kumar S and Pranav Kamesh S, both from Chennai, emerged as winners in the experienced category, the inexperienced category had Kartik Reddy from Hyderabad and M Ezhilarasi from Chennai as the winners. The four winners will now represent India in the
World Sudoku Championship to be held in Prague in November.
A day before the finale, a training session was held at Bennett University to brief the participants about the rules and regulations. The experienced finalists, who had participated in the previous years, helped inexperienced contestants with different kinds of solving techniques.
Participants at the training session
Kishore, who has represented India thrice in the World Sudoku Championship, said, “I have won the Times Sudoku Championship earlier, so I was hoping to win this time as well. The first three rounds were really close, but round four made all the difference. I am excited to represent India again.” Pranav Kamesh, an
IIT Madras student, was one of the winners last year as well. He said, “We have a really strong team this time. I think we can win the world championship.” Kartik Reddy, who beat his father, to make to make it to the winning team, said, “I have made it to the finale for the first time. I had participated in the Juniors World Championship in 2015 and I improved a lot. My father also helped me improve my skills.” Ezhilarasi, an advocate in the Madras High Court, said, “Now, I hope we win the World Sudoku Championship.”
THE BATTLE OF GRIDS AND COLUMNS
SHARP FOCUS
M Ezhilarasi
